


First Snow

by aruarudayo



Series: The Elements According to the Shepherd and his Water Seraph [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: M/M, Sorey and Mikleo get really wet, Sormik Week 2016, This is very very gay, also these babies haven't seen snow lmao someone help them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7719997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aruarudayo/pseuds/aruarudayo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Sormik week 2016 Day 1: Water</p><p>Mikleo and Sorey have never seen snow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Snow

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically late because it's almost 1am where I am, but in my defense, it's still August 8th elsewhere in the US.

It’s an innocuous conversation about Rose’s travels that reveals a glaringly large gap in Sorey and Mikleo’s experience.

“What’s snow like?” they ask simultaneously.

Rose takes a moment to marvel at how synchronized they are and then another to think of an appropriate response. At this point she takes snow for granted, having seen it plenty on excursions in the north for various reasons, but in Glenwood, a mostly warm and temperate continent, snow falls rarely, if at all in some areas. Of course two kids from a lush mountain wouldn’t have seen it.

“I don’t know—it’s cold? Delicate, sort of? It can be really fierce or really soft depending on the day, but no matter what, in the end, with everything covered in white, it’s just really pretty.”

“Ah, so it’s like Mikleo!” Sorey comments cheerfully.

Mikleo tenses at the remark, his cheeks turning an interesting shade of crimson before he covers his face with his hands. “Wh-Why does this sound like a great revelation to you? You said the exact same thing when we read about it the first time!”

“Well it’s true!”

Rose interrupts before Mikleo can die from embarrassment. “If you’ve read about it in a book, why bother asking me?”

Immediately, the boys whip around to face her. “It’s different!” they reply in unison. As she inches away from their intensity, Rose wonders if she’ll ever get over their ability to do so.

Realizing they’re being overbearing, Sorey backs off, pulling Mikleo with him. “If we can’t see it ourselves, hearing about it from someone we know is always going to be better than reading about it from someone we don’t,” he explains.

“Also, humans and seraphim perceive the world differently, so we wouldn’t get the same description in Izuchi or from Lailah, Edna, or Zaveid,” Mikleo adds.

Rose nodded in understanding before remembering their other companion. “Why didn’t you ask the princess while she was traveling with you? Surely she’s been to snowy regions as a dignitary.”

Sorey pauses, a sheepish smile on his face. “It didn’t come up.”

“We were a little preoccupied once _someone_ decided to become the Shepherd on a whim,” Mikleo elaborates, looking pointedly at his childhood friend. “Alisha had to leave before it even crossed our minds.”

Rose sighs wistfully. “It’s too bad we don’t have time to visit the north. There’s usually a lot of snow this time of year.”

“We can try to go when this is all over,” Sorey suggests with an excited smile.

The topic quickly changes to other things, but Mikleo doesn’t follow, a pensive expression in his features.

Eventually, Sorey notices his friend is no longer present and asks, “Is something wrong?”

“I’m going to train a bit,” the water seraph says absently, getting to his feet.

“Okay, I’ll go with you,” Sorey says eagerly, standing as well, but Mikleo turns on him, the tip of his staff stopping inches from his nose.

“You’re going to bed, Mr. I-Don’t-Know-My-Own-Limits.”

“Aw, come on! I want to train with you too!”

“No, it’s late, and as much as you don’t think so, you have to rest.”

Rose comes to Mikleo’s aid with a big yawn. “He’s right, Sorey,” she drawls, rubbing her eyes a bit too deliberately. “You can train with him some other time.”

Mikleo’s features soften into a small smile. “We’ll spar in the morning; how’s that?”

Sorey stares for a moment, as always surprised by how his friend takes his breath away at the most mundane of times. The moon is full tonight, and with the warm weather they hadn’t even needed a fire. Mikleo’s eyes glow with moonlight and fondness as he looks up at him, effortlessly beautiful in a way that makes Sorey forget why they were arguing in the first place.

“Sorey?”

Sorey catches himself and looks away, unable to recall his petulant reluctance to sleep. “F-Fine,” he stammers, hiding his face as he sits and rummages through his pack for a blanket. “But I expect you to keep your promise.”

“Of course.” Mikleo chuckles softly, kneeling down. Though Sorey already has one, Mikleo pulls the blanket in his own pack out and places it next to his friend, a slight twinkle in his eye. “Here—I think it might get chillier tonight.”

With that, he walks off in the direction of the nearby river, Sorey’s gaze following him until he’s out of sight.

“It’s been nothing but warm every day and night,” Rose muses. “Why would he think it’d get colder?”

Sorey shrugs noncommittally, glancing one more time at the path Mikleo had taken before settling down to sleep. Maybe he’ll ask in the morning.

 

 

(He wakes up in the middle of the night with a sneeze. Mikleo was right, as usual.)

 

 

Mikleo’s been spending a lot of time with Rose lately. He’s also been spending less with Sorey.

Sorey keeps telling himself that he doesn’t mind, even through the frustrated frown that has made residence on his face for the past few days. He wants to share Mikleo with the entire world, after all. It’s been a part of his dream for as long as he can remember, except he also expects to be at Mikleo’s side the whole time as well.

He doesn’t mind at all, which is why his gaze lingers unconsciously on the two of them sitting a little ways away and whispering conspiratorially, their heads close together.

“Jealous much?” With a rush of energy, Edna appears before him, holding her umbrella over her shoulder as primly as ever as she frowns down at him.

He looks back at her with a frightening amount of honesty. “I’m not jealous; just a little hurt, I guess.”

Edna is the first to break eye contact. “You two are gross.”

Lailah and Zaveid follow her out of his body, the former offering Sorey an apologetic smile and the latter grinning knowingly at Edna.

“Edna-chan here just can’t say that she’s concerned about you two,” Zaveid clarifies, ruffling the earth seraph’s hair affectionately and earning himself a whack from her umbrella.

“As if.”

Sorey grins at her. “Thanks for worrying, Edna—”

“I'm not worried.”

“—but I'm sure it's nothing. I want for Mikleo to spend time with others, especially another human that can see him.”

“And yet, you're unhappy,” Lailah points out, a small, knowing smile on her lips.

Edna scoffs, understanding something that Sorey clearly doesn't. “Meebo won’t get it if you don't say anything.”

“Though he always has your best interests at heart,” Lailah adds quickly.

“Ah, well, it'll probably blow over soon enough,” Zaveid quips. Then he looks over to Sorey, a huge, mischievous smile splitting his face. “But if you want, I could give you some pointers on how to spy—I mean, read the wind.”

Sorey replies plainly, “I don't think Mikleo would like that, not if he's avoiding me. But you're right, he'll probably talk to me about it soon.”

“Well that's no fun.”

“I agree. Spying Meebo is the only option.”

Sorey laughs, knowing neither Zaveid nor Edna intends to do anything. Still, better to cover his bases. “Thanks guys, but you don't have to do that. I trust him, and if he needs to hang out with Rose, there's nothing wrong with that.”

Lailah sighs, a romantic sheen to her eyes. “Ah, the bonds of youth; Mikleo-san is truly blessed to have such an understanding best friend!”

Sorey rolls with the compliment, and stays true to his word, for a few days. Then Mikleo stops spending time even with Rose, instead spending the afternoons lost in thought and walking off on his own at night. Edna, for her part, takes advantage of his absentmindedness to pull pranks on him, but Sorey mostly fills with worry until he finally gives into curiosity.

Rose is oddly tired, so she turns in while the sun is still up, and he's somehow managed to shake off the other seraphim, so he follows Mikleo away from their camp.

Once they're out of sight, Sorey notices fog creeping in, and soon, Mikleo’s melted into the water shroud. Not wanting to accidentally bump into his friend and give himself away, Sorey slows, keeping close to the edge of the path where there were trees to hide behind if needed.

The air is saturated and oddly active, seemingly pulsing with energy and moving unnaturally, as if impatient and waiting for some signal.

Suddenly, the fog rushes forth, and on instinct, Sorey follows. It quickly outpaces him, leaving him behind in open air once more. Still, he pushes on, some part of him directing him this way and that.

He manages to stop just before a clearing, where Mikleo has perched himself on a rock in the center, concentrating on something in front of him.

Now that he’s not moving, Sorey feels a chill down his spine, and only then does he realize he can see his breath. He takes a moment to play with this new discovery, finding a giddy pleasure from seeing the puffs of condensation emanating from mouth.

His attention returns to Mikleo when the water seraph moves, raising his arms above his head and _apparently throwing a cloud into the sky._

All pretense of clandestine behavior lost, Sorey climbs out of the bushes and advances on his friend, exclaiming, “Is that a _cloud?_ ”

Mikleo’s head whips around to face him. “Sorey?! What are you—”

His concentration broken, the cloud ceases its ascent. Right as Sorey reaches Mikleo, it begins to rain, _hard_.

Sorey is too excited to be bothered by the deluge, asking Mikleo question after question about the clouds he is suddenly able to make. Is this what he's been working on? How long has he been able to do this? Can he make lightning like Jiiji too?

Mikleo, for his part, starts out irritated because this really isn't the first time this has happened; he had really hoped it wouldn't have happened this time, and Sorey isn't even supposed to be here! But as usual, he's swept up into Sorey’s enthusiasm, and admittedly Sorey looks hilariously like a drowned puppy.

Sorey stops asking questions when he hears Mikleo laughing, a musical sound that he's always thought sounded like sunshine, even with rain pelting down on their backs. A mischevious grin appears on his face, and he takes the opportunity to breach Mikleo’s defenses, tickling his sides and grinning wider when Mikleo yelps in surprise and hits him in the arm.

“Sorry, sorry; I won't do anymore,” he promises with an apologetic expression. He moves his hands to Mikleo’s hips, leaning in to rest his forehead on Mikleo’s. The rain stops as they both exhale in unison, the air still cold enough that they could see their breaths mingle before dissipating.

“I missed you,” Sorey admits softly.

“I know,” Mikleo replies. “I'm sorry; I didn't think it would be this complicated.”

“That what would be this complicated?”

“Um, it'd probably be easier to show you. I think I can do it properly if you don't break my concentration again.”

Sorey nods eagerly and lets Mikleo pull him onto the rock, where he settles himself around the water seraph like a cloak. Mikleo makes a face at him, but he doesn't protest, figuring he owes Sorey at least this much.

Once again, the clearing fills with fog, before Mikleo gathers it up in his arms, a small, dense cloud eventually forming in his lap. This time, when he lets it go, the temperature begins to drop drastically, until the cloud sits high in the sky and Sorey is holding onto Mikleo more for warmth than anything else.

Then white begins to fall from the sky, floating down like little pieces of paper caught on the wind. One falls onto Sorey’s nose, a pinprick of cold before it disappears, and when he touches the spot it comes away wet.

Neither of them speak as white slowly covers the ground around them, confined to the small area beneath Mikleo’s cloud but still awe-inspiring nonetheless, at least in Sorey’s opinion.

“So this is snow,” Sorey whispers, finally remembering his notes in the Celestial Record and the conversation they had a while before.

“And?” Mikleo asks. “What do you think?”

Sorey hugs him tighter than he already is and replies, “I think you're amazing, Mikleo!”

He can feel Mikleo heat up with embarrassment. “I...I wanted you to see it,” Mikleo explains. “I knew that snow was made of water, so when we started talking about it a while ago, I suddenly got this idea and decided to run with it.”

“Oh, that's why you were always with Rose.”

“Yeah. She knows more about snow than we do, and I wanted it to be a surprise, which it kind of was, though not in the way I'd planned. Sorry if you felt left out.”

“Laila's and the others kept me company, but they really can't replace you.”

Mikleo leans back into Sorey’s embrace, silently indicating he feels the same. Sorey buries his nose into soft, white hair, leaving a small kiss there.

“Thanks for doing this for me, though. I appreciate it.”

“Gladly.”

The snow stops not long after, which Mikleo explains is because of the limitations of his technique right now.

“I'm glad it made you happy though,” he says, turning and smiling at him.

Sorey’s heart skips a beat. “Wow, here we are, in the middle of all this pretty, white snow, and you're still the most beautiful thing here, Mikleo.”

Mikleo immediately turns beet red. “Don't say embarrassing things like that!” he yells, tossing a handful of snow at him.

“But it’s true!” Sorey protests, throwing some back.

This sparks a short snow fight—it would've been longer, but they had limited ammunition—and when they return to camp, they get teased by everyone there for being soaked. Then Mikleo shows the rest of the party a few days later, and the whole thing starts all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Mikleo can make everyone disappear by basically creating fog, and fog is a really low lying cloud, so I don’t see why Mikleo wouldn’t be able to make clouds.


End file.
